Mercury-contact relay.



G. F. A. SGHULDT & E'. H. NICHOLSONL MERCURY CONTACT RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.12, 1908.

Patented Oct. 19, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

...ToI all ,whom it may concern;

vcve

i be a full, clear, and exact il@ invention, such as will enable othersskilled tally at 14. The upper ends of the necks in the art to which itappertains to make and 13 terminate in heads 13, each of which, as usethe same. p shown, has four radial perorations 13.

Our invention has for its object to pro- The perforations 13b openi.1to`grooves 1F, vide an improved mercury contact relay, which in turnlead to small mercury wells lu,

15 and to this end the invention consists ofthe formed in theendportionsl of the bar 11. novel devices and combinations of'devices Byreference to Figs. l and et, ity will be hereinafter' described anddefined in the noted that the perforations 13" lie in a plane claims.slightly below the upper portion of the wells i The improved relay wasespecially de- 16, this being` done for an important pur- 20. signed foruse in connection with railway pose which will hereinafter appeal'.

vsignaling systems, but is, nevertheless, capa- An approximatelyvertical tunnel plate 17 ble ofgeneral use wherever a relay of this issecured to the end of the section 14D of the general 'character may befound serviceable. mercury tube 14, and extends entirely across,

In the accompanying drawings which and from top to bottom of the raisedend illustrate the invention, like characters indiportion ot the envelopor inner casing 7, so cate like parts throughout the several views.laste cut olf a. small compartment T from Referring to the drawings:Figure 1 is j the main body portion of the said envelop. a verticalsection taken through the im- Also by reference to Fig. 1, .it will benoted vproved relay, approximately on the line m1 l that the tubesection 14" leads lfrom the exw1 of Fig. 2; ig. 2 shows the improved reltreme lower portion or bottom of this c0111-,

lay in end elevation, some parts being broken j partlnent- 7a. away andsome parts being sectioned; Fig. y A transversely extended approximate U3 is a plan View showing the internal mechshaped or forked bearing 18,is secured to anism of the relay removed from working ythe intermediateportion of the bar 11, and a position; and Fig. 4 is a section taken onthe l Wire l5) is attached at one end to one of thev irregular line :r4m4 of Fig. 3. l prongs of this bearing. The other end of the The outershell, or keys proper of the re'- l wire 19 is attached to a small lever20 lthat lay, is shown as made up of a base plate 1, l is pivoted to'the other prong of the said a curved top plate 2, and a heavy wall lbearing 18, and is subject to an adjusting 3, the said parts beingrigidly but detachl Screw v21, by means ot which, the tension on ablyconnected by bol ts 4. To the top plate the said wire v1!) may bevaried.

i 2, a .pair of magnets 5arc secured, the saule .1X/'contact supportinglever 22 is intel'- as shownLhaving depending headed cores (i 'lmediately connected to the intermediate porthat project downward throughsuitable tion otl thoavirc 1t), so that the said wire seats-in the saidplate 2. Y f alli/)rds a tule'rum for the said lever. At one The workingparts of the relay are con-v side otits fulcrum, the lever providedtained within an air-tight inner shell in the l with a transverselyextended armature form of a glass envelop 7, which as shown, l plate t23, that underlies the cores (S, and is supported from the top plate 2of the case l hence, is subject, to the `said magnets or 59 by a pairofV stirrups 8 and 9. As\shown, i magnetic coils At a point near itsarmathin layers of cement 10 are interposed be- I ture', thev lever 22,as lshown, is provided tween the stirrups 8 and 9 and the glass enwith asmall threaded finger 24, on which velop 7, so that the latteris firmlysecured is an adjustable weight 25, by adjustments in position by thetwo stirrups, .and spaced of which latter, the counterpoise of the levers apart from the outer casing. may be varied.

lImprovements in Mercury-Contact Relays;

TED entres PATENT cierren.

LES'F. A. BQHULDT AND FRANK H. NIGFHOESGMQF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

Specification of Letters Patent. Implication filed October 12, 1908.

93"?,098. Patented Oct. 19, 1909.

semi no. 457,298.

l as porcelain, wood fiber or vulcanized rub- Be it known that' we,CHARLES F. A. ber, is secured withiinland to the bottom of SCHULDT andFRANK H. NICHOLSON, citizens ofthe United States, residing at St. Paul,in the'county of Ramsey and State of Minne- Sota, have invented certainnew and useful Near its ends, the bar 11 has vertical perforations thatreceive portions of the cement 12, and contain the 11p-turned necks 13of a mercury tube 14, which latter is seatedin the body of cement 12,and

and we do hereby declare l turned at- 141, and then is the following todescription of the extended horizon- A base bar 11 of insulatingmaterial, such To each end of the lever 22 is secured a the glassenvelop 7, by a body oi cement 12.

at one end, is upcontact'holder preferably in the form of a sheet ofmica 26, but which may be of other insulatingr material. Each contactholder 26 carries two pairs ot inverted U shaped contacts Q7, havingdepending Contact points QS preferably of platinum, that are arranged toengage each in the mercury Z, contained in mercury cups 16. One end o1"-the lever 22 is shown as guided by a split post 29 secured on bar l1.

There is nothing novel in the manner in which. the relay hereindisclosed is Wired, and hence, for the purposes olf this case, it willbe sucient to note that binding posts 30 on the top plate2 of the case,are connected by Wires 31, that extend through sealed passages in theenvelop 7, to contact points 32 located one. in each mercury containingWell 16.

i etere the inner casingor transparent envelop 7 is hermetically sealed,all of the partscontained therein, must, ot course, be properlyadjusted. Also thc required amount ot mercury must be introduced intothe said envelop. rlfhe amount o mercury introduced into the envelopshould be sutilv cient 'to lill the tube 14, its necks 13 and heads 13a,up to the altitude otl the perfora- 'tions i3", so that 'this mercuryWill run into and ll thc `Wells lf3 Without overflowing latter. lnshipment the mercury may run. where it will, and when desired` it may beproperly collected, first by standing the entire device on its left handend, directions being taken in respect to Fig. 1. 'lliis will cause allthe loose mercury to be collected on the funnel plate 17, hence directed'into the compartment 7a. Then.y when the device is properlyv arighted,or set, as shown by Fig. 1, the mercury will run down through the tubesection lei-b and 14a into the tube ld, and from thence through thenecks 13 and pertorations 13b into the mercury Wells 16.

The relay as is evident, is thoroughly prot d from the clelnents, suchas rain, suonv anni dirt, and `furthermore the delicate parts thereof,are protected so they cannot possib"y be tan'ipered with. This latterfeature resell. is ot' the very greatest importance` especially inrailway signaling apparatus, wherein reliability under all conditions,is the first re p1irementu rlfhe transparent envelop enables inspectionat all times of the i, internal mechanism ot' the relay, and this Ifeature, as is obvious, is highly important.

Preferably, the air-tight envelop adorded by the inner glass casing 7before it is sealed, has the air pumped therefrom, so that the operativeparts of the relay are not closed or contained in a vacuum. Thisprevents oxidation of the contact points of the l relay.

7What We claim is:

1. ln an electrical relay, the combination with a glass envelop andmagnetically actu-y ated contacts therein, including, a lever, and amagnet entirely outside of said envelop operative on said contact lever.

2, ln an electrical relay, *l

me combination with a glass envelop and magnetically actuated contactstherein, including a lever, of a shell mclosmg said envelop and a magnetsupported by said shell with its core entirely outside of said envelop,and Which magnet is operative on said contact lever, substantially asdescribed. v

3.111 an electrical relay an air-tight envelop, mercury Wells containedtherein, movable contacts coti}' eiat-ingl with s. i l wells, and meansfor collecting mercury contained Within said envelop and for directingthe same into said wells, substantially as described.

4. ln an electrical relay, the combination with an air-tight envelop, ota tunnel plate and a mercury tube within'said envelop, said tube havingpassages leading to and terminatingv in open mercury containing wells,movable contacts Within said envelop cooperating With said Wells, and amagnet for actuatingr said contacts, the said funnel plate and mercurytube being arranged to collect all the mercury contained in saidenvelop, when the latter is turned on one end, and to direct the mercuryinto said wells when the said envelop is subsequently arigrhted or setin normal position.

5. ln an electrical relay, the combination with awire and a support forthe ends thereot', of a contact lever secured to the intermediateportion of the said Wire, the said wire serving a yieldingr tulcrum forthe said lever.

In testimony whereof we aftix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

(lll llilltl F. A. SClvl'UliDT. FRANK ll. NlCl'lOliSON.

lVitncsst-s:

Il. D. Klmoiui, Amor. J. Swanson'.

